Team VICTOR players, Korean Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na won their first and only Superseries mixed doubles title together last year right here in Sydney. (Wish Ko S.H. a Happy Birthday!) On Wednesday, the Asian Champs will come back down under for their title defense.

 

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As the seventh seeds, however, Ko/Kim lands in a packed section of the draw where they will potentially have compatriots Yoo Yeon Seong and Chang Ye Na in the R16, and then it could be top seed Xu/Ma the following round.

 

Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na

 

Kim Ha Na in Sudirman Cup 2015

 

Looming in the qualifying draw is Sudirman Cup heroes Malaysian Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying. The former world no.3 duo has been building up their ranking efficiently, making the semifinals in three smaller tier events this year already and climbing up more than 200 spots to find themselves back into the top 70, after Goh’s knee surgery in 2014 that had halted the Malaysia hopes. They also just got a win last week against Ko/Kim in Dongguan.

 

Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying took a win from Ko/Kim last week.

 

Defending mens’ doubles champion and runner-up team are both also from Team VICTOR. Although Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong can only face Taiwan’s Lee Sheng Mu/Tsai Chia Hsin in the finals, they could bump into an early challenge from Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong (Wish Tan W.K. a Happy Birthday!) in the quarterfinals, who got the better of them for a group win for Malaysia in last week’s Sudirman Cup.